Plug the volume based recipes into my spreadsheet and you will have a decent first approximation of the formula with percentages and weights. Takes just a minute. This is one of the reasons I built it. I was always hesitant about volume based formulas due the the inherent problem in consistently reproducing them. No more.

The #1 unequivocal must own pastry book is The Professional Pastry Chef, by Bo Friberg. It is by far the best book for pastry and it is an exceptional teaching type book. Great value at over 1000 pages.

It actually has some breads in it too, no use of natural starters though, and his forte is pastry, but the best array of challah braids I've seen. Great "viennoiserie"

There is also an "Advanced" version of the book, but definitely start with the first one, the Professional Pastry Chef.

Friberg is from a 5 year pastry apprenticeship in Sweden, and he is a Certified Master Pastry Chef, among other illustrious qualifications. His book explains things very well, and you can learn classic pastry techniques from it.

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